Red Light Camera Hearing by Council Committee Scheduled For Tuesday

CHICAGO — After months of scandal, controversy and questions about Chicago's red light camera program's integrity the City Council will hold a hearing on Chicago’s red light camera program next week.

Alderman Walter Burnett (27th), Chairman of the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety, says he invited Inspector General Joseph Ferguson to present his office's recent findings and recommendations at a hearing Tuesday, October 28th at 3 p.m. at City Hall.

"We need to make sure everything is fair and decent for everyone," said Burnett. "We definitely don't want people running the red light but at the same time things need to be fair."

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) says it’s about time. He and members of the council’s Progressive Caucus have tried to get hearings several times over the past two years of controversy.

“It’s years overdue,” says Waguespack. “With all the issues surrounding the cameras aldermen knew something has to change with this program. It’s been building up for so many years. We’ve been waiting for this a long time.”

Over the past two years, a series of Tribune stories have exposed an alleged bribery scandal involving the city’s RLC vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems. The reports led to the company being banned from holding a city contract, an Inspector General investigation and eventually resulted in federal indictments of a former city official and ex-company executive.

In advance of next week’s hearings, Scott Davis of Citizens to Abolish Red Light Cameras says his group is planning a protest in Burnett’s ward on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the intersection of Ashland and Ogden Avenues. The group has been holding protests the past year across the city.

The group has been trying to convince city council members to take a pledge to vote to abolish the city’s red light and speed camera programs. Davis says so far his group has been able to get Ald. Toni Foulkes (15th) and Roderick Sawyer (6th) onboard and now wants Burnett to sign, too.

“When we heard Burnett was going to have hearings we wanted to put pressure on him by driving calls to his office,” said Davis. “We want him to sign the pledge.”

While looking forward to attending Tuesday’s hearings, Fagel is not optimistic the hearings will result in constructive changes to the city's red light camera program.

“No — nothing is going to change,” says Fagel, alleging that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is "pulling all the strings and pushing all the buttons.”